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This is a digital portfolio of Erin Vogel-Fox's work in journalism and the stories she produced during her time as a graduate student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Monthly Archives: July 2017

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) – The House Republicans unveiled “Building a Better America,” their budget plan for 2018, Tuesday. The bill and its estimates assume that the Congress fully repeals and replaces President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The House Budget Committee says their proposal will balance the budget within 10 years. Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black, R-Tenn., held a news conference summarizing the objectives of the bill.

“In past years, the Budget has only been a vision, but now, with a Republican Congress and a Republican White House, this budget is a plan for action,” Blacksaid. “This is a plan to balance the budget, spurs economic growth, it secures our national defense, it returns power to the states and it holds Washington accountable.”

Black has announced the committee will vote on the budget plan, Wednesday.

“It embraces the worst extremes of the Trump Budget, sacrificing nearly every investment that helps American families get ahead, in order to give huge tax breaks to millionaires and corporations,” Yarmuth said in a statement.The Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, John Yarmuth, D-KY., called the plan disastrous in a tweet Tuesday.

Here are five things you should know about the GOP budget blueprint:

The budget sets spending for 2018 at $1.132 trillion

According to the budget document, spending allotments are divided into two parts. The first is defense discretionary spending, of which, $621 billion from the budget allotment is dedicated. The second is nondefense discretionary funding. The bill sets aside $511 billion for these costs.

$203 billion in mandatory savings

The bill aims to balance the budget in 10 years and asks 11 house committees to achieve $203 billion in mandatory savings and reforms. To accompany this request, the bill asks the House Ways and Means Committee to create deficit neutral tax reform, aimed at reducing tax rates and simplifying the tax code.

The bill also states it will achieve $6.5 trillion in deficit reduction and a surplus of $9 billion by 2027.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) – On Sunday, lawmakers debated the Republican health care bill and its chances of passing a vote in the Senate. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said that the Senate will delay consideration of the bill due to Senator McCain’s absence net week due to eye surgery.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that the Republican plan would lead to health insurance that is “barely insurance at all.”

She also expressed concern about the cuts to Medicaid.

Collins said that the Medicaid program has been on the books for more than 50 years “Insuring some of our most vulnerable citizens, disabled children, our low-income seniors, receive the health care they need.

Collins added “worst of all,” these changes would have been made without the Senate holding a single hearing to evaluate their impact.

Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price also appeared on “This Week” defending the bill.

Price said that he found the opposition from big name insurance companies “perplexing.”

When asked if the Senate has the votes to pass the bill, the secretary said, “I don’t know.”

But Price told Sinclair Broadcast Group that he was “confident we will get to a solution” on the bill.